Thanks Len,

I have your website bookmarked and will check out the homemade detergent
recipe.

I do like twin tubs. We have a top loader, a smallish one. Sometimes when
the clothes are not too dirty (but still need a wash), I put it on prewash a
few times, or leave them to soak in a dish before washing, then put them on
prewash instead of a full cycle (which does take a lot of water).

Katherine
ps - If there are only a few pieces, I do them by hand.



"len garden" wrote in message
...
g'day katherine,

we sue the water from both cycles on our gardens, but we also use a
homemade laundry detergent recipe, that the wife is wrapped in, the
recipe is on our remedies page.

also if you check on our permaculture essay page we have a pic of how
we set up 44 gallon drums to collect water and this water is then used
for clothes washing using a boat submersable and a battery booster
pack from the auto shop all up cost around $110.

we also use a twin tub washer, the only way to conserve water and most
likley power (as the pump only gets used when emptying the machine a
single time other machines would use their pump twice per load), our
machine take 90 litres a fill for both wash and rinse purposes, and we
use that fill to do 3 loads of washing (4kg machine). once you get
into a routine usinbg a twin tub isn't that much more difficult when
comapred to at least water management.

so each drum does 6 loads of clothes (2 complete washes).

and yep that's a hell of a lot of water 160 litres for a single load
of clothes, if you could use it all for say 3 loads of clothes that
would be much better (but very hard to set laundries up to do this
with auto' machines), so you water use is mainly for washing clothes
along with toilet and shower/bath.

they not only keep pushing the price up a fed gov tenent, but they
keep cutting the water allocation litreage down as well so double
jeophardy.

the sooner the bullet is bitten the better for the family often it is
left to the very last then there is an all fired panic.